Valentine
by Mint Julip59
Summary: This story is a hark back to Series 1 or 2 definitely before Tequila Sunset, it's early Dempsey.


Dempsey viewed the floral exhibition that was previously Harry's desk, you couldn't see her desk cos it was covered with bunches of flowers which were tributes to the hotness that was Sergeant Makepeace. He looked at the cards that went with the flowers, not much to be gathered from that as they were all from secret admirers. He went to get some coffee and grinned when he saw Fry's face cloud over with disappointment as he realised his wasn't the only bouquet.

'Never mind Fry, you just got to understand that half the Met are keen on dating Makepeace so you need to get in line. I heard you British like the queues.' He smirked as the lady in question came in and looked somewhat surprised at the number of roses adorning her desk.

'Dempsey, you shouldn't have,' she mocked him in her usual manner. 'A little over the top don't you think,' she observed the floral overload.

'Yeah well, it's being American we super-size everything,' he winked at her and went over to the coffee machine. He came back with a mug for her. 'Better clear them off before Spikings gets in cos I can guarantee he ain't the romantic kind.'

'Well there's a Mrs Spikings so he must have been romantic once,' Harry responded as she took the coffee off her partner. She started to admire the bouquets. 'Well, they're all very nice. I'll have to relocate them to the ladies' locker room,' she swept up armfuls of flowers and quickly returned her desk back to its usual purpose.

'I counted a dozen bunches so that means that you got twelve admirers in the Met cos I don't suppose you advertise your work address to your boyfriends.'

'I don't advertise anything,' she agreed as she sipped her coffee. 'Twelve admirers, everybody thinks I'm your work wife so it's a bit presumptuous when you think about it,' she teased him. 'So, who was your valentine, Dempsey? There must be some poor deluded creature that's on the receiving end of your charm offensive.'

'Oh, there is but she's playing hard to get. She likes me though but she don't want to so it's a kind of psychological battle that we got going on. She's hot so I'm playing along.'

'Doesn't,' Harry corrected his language, 'she doesn't want to.'

'No, that's right,' he agreed with a twinkle in his eyes. 'Anyway, I was thinking you could take pity on me and come to dinner tonight cos I know you're soft-hearted Makepeace and you wouldn't want me to be lonely now would you.'

'You over estimate my sympathetic nature,' Harry responded, 'and I have a date tonight so thank you for your kind offer Dempsey but I'm afraid I'll have to decline.'

'Who's the guy?' He asked the question in a casual way which didn't reveal his displeasure at the thought of her dating.

'That's not really any of your business,' she responded. 'Unlike you, I'm discrete about my relationships.'

'Yeah, well I think I need to know cos if I come to your place cos I need to confer or something then I don't want to be beating on someone cos I think you've got an intruder.'

'Phone first,' she widened her eyes to emphasise the point as Dempsey was known to let himself into her house without bye or leave.

'Nah, where would the fun be in that,' he grinned at her. He liked it when he turned up and she was in those little tee shirts she wore for bed or in a silk wrap, he considered it one of the perks of the job. 'May as well tell me cos you know I'll keep bugging you till I find out,' he twirled a pen between his fingers. 'You're my partner so I need to know; I can vet the guy for you, make sure he's on the level.'

'No thanks,' she responded in a dry tone as she turned on her computer and waited for it to warm up. She checked a file she'd been working on the day before as it allowed her to block out the Yank as he was obviously teasing her and she wasn't volunteering to be his entertainment. 'I'm quite capable of judging a man's qualities for myself.'

'If that were true, you'd still be married,' he said it before he'd engaged his brain. 'Sorry, that was out of order, I shouldn't've said that,' he looked uncomfortable.

'Well, it was rather below the belt,' she agreed in a cool tone. 'But then I suppose you're right, perhaps I'm not a very good judge of men. Thank you for the reminder.'

The American felt awful for saying what he'd said to Harry, she was a friend of his and he respected her and valued their relationship. He'd taken the teasing too far and he was sorry for it. He got back to working on a case they had outstanding but kept glancing over to check on her mood. 'I want to check out the Purple Cat again, the feel of that place was kind of off. It didn't feel like the usual strip joint, could be money laundering what do you think?'

'I'm not as familiar with that kind of venue as you seem to be so I'll take your word for it,' she got her jacket and followed him out.

'Dempsey put his foot in it,' Fry remarked to Chas. 'It wasn't very nice bringing up her ex, I mean that's not something you should joke about.'

'I expect the Sergeant will make him pay for it one way or another, Harry, doesn't let Dempsey get away with much.' the Glaswegian responded dourly. In Chas's opinion Jim hadn't liked the blonde having a date and that's why he'd pushed her too far.

-oOo—

Harry shivered slightly as they entered the strip club, she always found these places depressing. It was the usual scene, furtive looking clients and bored strippers who looked like the life had been sucked out of them. One of the girls was doing her routine and Harry saw Dempsey give her the onceover, 'men,' she thought distastefully.

Dempsey ordered them both a drink and they sat down.

'I feel rather out of place,' Harry remarked, 'I mean, why would someone like me be in here dressed like this. If I was going to come in here, I'd be in my Sharon personae.'

'Yeah, you got your designer labels on. We should've gone back to your place first, take the jacket off and undo a few buttons that might help.' His gaze ran over her expensive suit.

Harry complied taking her jacket off in a casual manner and slowly changing her body language so she looked more like Dempsey's arm candy.

The Yank lit a cigar and watched the subtle changes, she was good at undercover, quite the actress. Might be interesting having a girlfriend that could role play, he leaned forward and undid another button on her blouse so she was showing cleavage, 'much better,' he growled his eyes half closed against the smoke.

'Yes, well don't take it too far Dempsey as we wouldn't want a painful break-up so early in our relationship, would we?' Her gaze took in the clientele. A pair of suits were over the other side of the bar and seemed to be involved in some kind of transaction. She turned to her partner to alert him and found his attention was on her exposed cleavage.

'Dempsey,' she hissed at him. 'At four o clock, the men in suits, that's if you can tear yourself away from my décolletage.'

'Can't blame a guy, it's a nice view,' he got his brain back into gear and noted the men she was talking about. They didn't look like they belonged here. 'You recognise them,' he growled as he took a drag on the cigar and then picked up his beer.

'One of them looks familiar, one of Daish's men, I think. He'll be on the files as a person of interest, so you were right this place has connections with the mafia.'

'I'm always right, the nose knows,' he added tapping it. 'Okay, so we need to set up some kind of operation here, how's your sexy dance?'

'My sexy dance is too expensive for here,' she responded in a sarcastic tone. 'I'm sure you'd love it if I was up there,' she nodded to the podium where a disinterested stripper was swinging her discarded bra.

'I'd rather you just danced for me,' he murmured his gaze flirting with hers. 'You could get a job at the bar,' he suggested.

'And what will you be doing?' Her blue eyes mocked him.

'Bouncer, they're advertising outside, saw it on the way in.' He got up and went over to the bar and had a word with the girl there. Next thing, he was talking to the manager.

Harry took some gum out of her bag and chewed it Sharon fashion, she saw her partner point at her and` she sent back a little wave. Her presence didn't seem to be required so she sipped her drink and waited for Dempsey to return.

'We start tonight,' he informed her, not at all bothered that he'd screwed up her date. 'I'll buy you a drink after we finish, make up for you missing out.'

'Be still my beating heart,' she responded sarcastically. 'After a night in here my date will be with a hot bath and possibly disinfectant.'

'Wear something sexy,' his dark eyes teased her, 'cos they ain't expecting designer labels here. Pays not bad though, and I expect you'll get tips,' he put his arm around her and smirked as he knew she wanted to push him off, 'looks like you'll be my Valentine after all, princess.'

The end….


End file.
